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Abstract

INTRODUCTION This report interprets the results of three sets of test data (Ref. 1 through 3) on welded light-gage cold-formed steel specimens. The tests were conducted at Cornell for the American Iron and Steel Institute on 252 symmetric puddle and fillet welded connections tested under monotonically increasing static load. The tested connections consisted of 130 shop welded specimens and 122 field welded specimens. All test connections had the same basic configuration being made up of center plates, referred to as parent plates or connected plates in the references, butted together with one or, in the case of the double sheet puddle welds, two cover plates welded to each side. All specimens were welded with E60 electrodes. In most cases, the parent plates were 7/16 inch thick hot rolled A-36 steel plates. In the cases where the 7/16 inch plates were not used for the parent plates, cold rolled plates of equal or greater thickness than the cover plates were used. Puddle weld specimens with single and double sheet cover plates were tested. Four different gage cover plates were used; they were 12, 14, 18 and 28 gage. The 12 gage and most of the 18 gage cover plates were made from A446 grade A steel. The 28 gage, 14 gage, and some of the 18 gage cover plates were made from A446 grade E steel. Both transverse and longitudinal fillet welds were tested. For both the transverse and longitudinal welds two types of cover plates, flat sheet and channel section, each in 12 and 18 gage thicknesses, were used. In each type of fillet weld a few different lengths were used. Reference 1 gives drawings of the different puddle and fillet weld configurations. Table 1 lists the material properties of the cover plate materials and weld material. The specific purpose of this report is to take the test data and use it to formulate design procedures for welded sheet steel connections. This report will attempt to isolate the connection design variables and to give formulas using these variables for the prediction of the strength of connections. The report will also recommend further testing in the areas where the data was not felt to be extensive enough to draw complete conclusions.